Warm, warmer, warmest (Day 5)

We started the day with yoga, which gave people energy after a tiring Wednesday. It was still a comfortable temperature and even though the loud farm animals and red ants were annoying, it was generally relaxing. It was positive and inspiring to reach for the sky.

NTK had a useful and fun theme lesson about expression in music. We learned how to express ourselves with dynamics and how to use that in the music. In groups of 4/5 we had to make a story using only flute playing and no words. We had to perform in in front of one another, and the others had to guess what the story was about. In one story two people were sleeping and two others were mosquitos. The sleeping people used flutter tongue for the sleepy sounds, and the mosquitos used pitch bending for the annoying mosquito noise. We all know how that sounds 😑

The YIP-pers had lessons with Emily and free time to practise, go for a walk or take a nap.

Throughout the whole day, a group of flute teachers from all over the Netherlands sat in on lessons and workshops. They are part of a special course for flute teachers also organised by Neflac.

In the afternoon, NTK and Yip had ensemble rehearsals. These were the last rehearsals before the informal concert we will play for each other tomorrow. It was hot and difficult to focus but there was still a lot of improvement. Luckily we all made it through.

Before the BBQ, we had a rhythm workshop with Niels van Hoorn  on the theme of "groove". This workshop was outside where it was cooler. The workshop consisted of clapping exercises, singing, body percussion, stamping feet and combining all of these in one big group excerise. It was hard to do more than one thing at once, but we perservered. 😅

We had a lovely dinner, which was a barbecue. After dinner, we tried on dresses for the concert, and we had the opportunity to buy discounted secondhanded sheet music. Thanks to Neflac for organising this, and of course to everyone who donated the music!

This brings us to the end of a busy and sweaty (39°C ) Thursday.

We are looking forward to the concert!
Fabiënne, Mariko, Rachel and Nina

PS: Andrew, you are definitely our hero for playing so much music in such hot temperatures, during the masterclasses. Thank you so much! ❤